* Publisher’s Note: Ann Sakowitz passed away in January 2010. She was a Houston institution and is greatly missed. Her legacy lives on through her remarkable family and friends.
Ann Baum Sakowitz was born in San Antonio, the youngest of six siblings, to Victor and Sarah Rosenman Baum. Widow of the legendary Bernard Sakowitz, Ann was a Vice President at Sakowitz, a high-fashion specialty store chain headquartered in Houston, for over 88 years. She traveled around the world with Bernard, making friends and finding resources to help the store’s buyers select items she knew her Houston friends would want.
In many other ways, Ann has been committed to serving Houston. Forty-four years ago, she was a founding member of the Society for Performing Arts (SPA) Board of Directors, served as Vice President and then President from 1969 to 1978, and remains a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors. She was a Trustee of the Moores School of Music Society at the University of Houston and was active in numerous other arts organizations, including the Alley Theatre, Houston Ballet, and the Chamber of Commerce’s Houston Festival, where she served as a charter member. Ann was honored by the Houston Shakespeare Society, UH Moores School of Music and SPA in 2006. She has been named a CCFA Woman of Distinction and one of the Houston Chronicle’s Best Dressed Women of Houston.
A passion for advancing medical arts propelled Ann to support the University of Texas Health Science Center, The Houston Center for Hearing and Speech, The Red Cross, Council for the Prevention of Blindness and Cancer Fighters. Her interest in people, civic affairs and other cultures led her to participation on the Boards of the YWCA, where she was Chairman of the Public Relations Committee for four years, a member of the Budget Committee for the United Fund, a member of the Japan-America Society of Houston, the Houston Pan-America Society, the International Institute of Education and co-founding Governor of The Forum Club.
Ann has two children, Lynn Sakowitz Wyatt and Robert T. Sakowitz, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She is an avid weekend gardener at the family’s Thunderbird Ranch, attends to social obligations during the week and enchants friends with jokes, tales and advice. She plays poker monthly with long-standing friends.